Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 12
Terry Ellis Took Job to Steal 80 Verizon Servers Holding Bankers' Files
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 12

Terry Ellis Took Job to Steal 80 Verizon Servers Holding Bankers' Files

1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 12

Summary

  • Around 80 servers at a Verizon data center in London were the target of a 2007 heist job offered to veteran thief Terry Ellis, according to a New York Times Magazine account.
  • Ellis said the assignment came through a fixer linked to U.S. bankers who wanted files removed because they contained damaging evidence of mortgage-related regulatory evasions.
  • The operation was unusually complex: Ellis, whose usual crew numbered four, concluded he needed four computer technicians to detach the machines without destroying the data, plus another man tied to the client.
  • The servers were housed in Verizon's King’s Cross facility, which served major financial institutions after a series of mergers expanded the company's data-center business.

Insights

What was the ultimate fate of the mastermind and the ten-person crew behind London's great data center heist?
Did stealing 80 servers in 2007 help American bankers escape accountability for their role in the financial crisis?